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Discover your family history. Explore the world's largest collection of free family trees, genealogy records and resources.

Ellis Island is an extremely important part of American History because our nation is founded on immigrants.  This site allows users to search the Ellis Island records for people who entered the country and discover more information about our own families.  Genealogy is something that isn't discussed much with students, but it is imperative for students to know our history.  Because we are a nation if immigrants, we all have relations to other countries and making that connection can be very important.  I would love to see high schoolers use this site to help investigate family origins.  Even if there were no connections to Ellis Island, they could choose from the list of more famous people to arrive.  The original documents that are captured on this site are a definite piece of our history that is worth investigating and sharing with others.

This site has many features including podcasts, audio, and video as well as photo, print, and other primary source documents arranged by era. Users can search from the beginning our country to the present. One of the most unique features of the site was the collection Battle Lines: Letters from America's Wars. This section has 5 different categories of letters from soldiers, one from each era. There is a digital copy of the letter as well as an audio recording of the letter. This would be great to use with second language learners or struggling readers since the text is read to the user. Next to the picture there is also a photograph or print from the same era as the letter. A description of the letter's author is also printed next to the letter. A transcript which is easier to read than the original is also available.

This site focuses on original letters and contains audio files from the battlelines starting at the Revolutionary War to the Iraq War. Through these correspondences, a student will be able to have a better understanding of what war is like for the soldiers and their families from daily happenings to major events. Grades 6 +. Photos, print documents, a teachers guide, and a section called "teachable documents" help makes this a great site to help learn about different eras in our nation's history.

LOVE this website.  Letters from most American wars from Revolutionary War to Iraq.   Each letter appears on the screen and includes a recording of the letter read aloud.  Very powerful to hear the types of details soldiers wrote.  Each page also includes information about the solder. 5 categories to choose from with many letters in each.  The categories are enlisting, comforts of home, love, combat, and the end of the war.

The museum of Edgar Allan Poe collection database includes primary source documents such as letters, photos, and personal/family items. This is a good literary resource for middle and high school students-complete with teacher and student resources. Great opportunity for English/Language Arts department and library collaboration.

Read.gov is a resource for accessing book information and reading lists, literature events, author webcasts, and local/community resources. This resource is appropriate for use by kids, teens, adults/parents, and educators. As a school librarian, I can see this resource as being valuable for lessons, educator collaboration, and student/family outreach.